My latest project (with the help of Joe Boris and Robert Lambert) involved the Fabulous Fox and Dr. Tim Crimmins (Professor of History and Director of the Center for Neighborhood and Metropolitan Studies at Georgia State University), producing a video for his "Following the Color Line: Atlanta Landmarks and Civil Rights History" teacher workshops funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In the video, Tim talks with Gwen Middlebrooks about two experiences she had at the Fox as a young woman: Sitting in the segregated "Colored" section on a date (to her father's consternation when he finds out) and later sitting in the whites-only section with friends, accompanied by a teacher from India, all of them dressed (and passing) in sari's. Gwen became involved in sit-ins about a year later in Atlanta.
Below are a few images that capture the disparity of the times. The Fox began desegregating in 1962.
Whites entrance on Peachtree Ave.
"Colored" entrance on Ponce de Leon.
"Colored" seats in balcony section.
Seating for whites.